Golkar and PPP agree on cement<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar, the ruling political organization, and
\nthe United Development Party (PPP) both vow to fight to cut the
\nprices of cement which have soared recently because of supply
\nshortages.<\/p>\n
Golkar Chairman Harmoko said yesterday in Jambi that his
\norganization has set up a special team to find effective ways of
\nmanaging cement price increases, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
Hamzah Haz, the chairman of the PPP faction in the House of
\nRepresentatives, urged the government on a separate occasion to
\ndo away with local reference prices and let market forces
\ndetermine the price. He said future increases could be curbed by
\nallowing more imports.<\/p>\n
Early this month, the government raised the reference prices
\nof cement by an average of 40 percent in response to the soaring
\nprices on the domestic market.<\/p>\n
The move has been widely criticized by politicians as
\npremature because prices could have been brought down by allowing
\nimports to counter the acute shortage.<\/p>\n
Last week, a number of state-owned trading companies said they
\nwould sell their imported cement at below the government-set
\nreference prices to bring the market prices down.<\/p>\n
The reference price in Jakarta has been set at Rp 8,290, up
\nfrom Rp 5,930 previously. The prices are higher outside Java
\nbecause of the costs of transporting the cement.<\/p>\n
Golkar, as the dominant political organization, appears to be
\ndistancing itself from the decision to raise the cement prices,
\nwhich was followed last week by the announcement of increases in
\nthe prices of low-cost houses by up to 14 percent.<\/p>\n
Harmoko said Golkar's cement monitoring team is made up of
\nlegislators.<\/p>\n
They will monitor the prices of cement and talk to various
\npeople in order to determine an increase that is deemed \"fair\" to
\nall.<\/p>\n
The team will also approach the government, the association of
\ncontractors, real estate companies and consumer groups, he said.
\nAs well, the team will look into the impact of the cement price
\nincreases on the prices of other basic commodities.<\/p>\n
Harmoko said Golkar wants to find a way out acceptable to both
\nconsumers and cement producers, both of whom he considers
\nsupporters of Golkar.<\/p>\n
PPP Faction Chairman Hamzah said his party believes that the
\ngovernment should simply do away with the current mechanism of
\npricing cement and let the market forces play their part instead.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia needs to import between 15 percent and 20
\npercent of its cement requirements each year anyway, so the
\ngovernment should not limit the import level. He believes
\nderegulation of the import levels would prevent the recurrent
\n\"spectacular price increases\".<\/p>\n
The government, through its own cement manufacturing plants,
\ncould still influence prices by releasing its stock at the first
\nsign of market shortages, he said. (emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/golkar-and-ppp-agree-on-cement-1447893297",
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